Dogs of the Special Forces

The Jagdkommandos are a Special Operations Group of the Austrian armed forces. These soldiers “train for operations in the most difficult terrain and weather conditions and extreme risk situations and climatic conditions.”

The second training division of the Austrian special operations group – that of parachutist proficiency – was at one time was a human-only affair. These days the humans are joined by Belgian Shepherds, who have also taken on roles as paratroopers in Afghanistan and improvised explosive device (IED) sniffers in Iraq. The dogs trained to detect explosives and have become some of NATO’s best bomb detectors.

Cover photo: The fourth NATO exercise “Operation Cold Response,” featured approximately 8,500 soldiers and took place February 4th – March 4th of 2010. Countries represented included Austria, Britain, Norway, and 11 others.

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What About the Dogs?

According to the handlers, the dogs in the special forces are usually calm before and after the jump.

Part of that may be due to canine’s different perceptions to movement from those of humans. Explains one K-9 handler:

Unfortunately, dogs have been employed for use by dark forces as well. Insurgent terrorists in Iraq have previously attempted to surgically implant stray dogs with explosives before sending them on international flights. However the insurgents were not doctors, and the amateur surgery resulted in a failed terrorist attempt. The dogs died from the effects of surgery and were ultimately never loaded on the plane.

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Suppliers

“Dogs of the Special Forces” might be a market with limited prospects, but to Canadian police-dog handler Jim Slater, protecting law enforcement’s canine companions is paramount to profits.

His company, K9 Storm Inc., has a near-monopoly on the market of tactical gear for dogs. From their “aerial insertion vest” to canine ballistic body armor, few companies can claim to offer such an array of military-grade protection for canines.

In 2010 the US Navy awarded K9 Storm $86,000 in contracts for the supply of “Canine Tactical Assault Vests” for wear by SEAL dogs. The model used by the SEAL canine commandos is the K9 Storm Intruder.

According to K9 Storm, “the Intruder” offers excellent protection from gunfire and shrapnel, as well as cutting weapons, ice picks, or screwdrivers.

The protection system also includes an infrared night vision camera and a voice communication system to allow the handler to see what the dog sees, and then send commands to the canine.

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images courtesy K9 Storm

Further details of the K9 Intruder model made for the SEALs is classified.